Objective To investigate the transmission of blaNDM-1 gene in carbapenem-resistant Citrobacter freundii. Methods A total of 18 strains of NDM-1-producing C. freundii were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University during the period from June 2012 to October 2014. The isolates were identified and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing with VITEK 2 System. Conjugation experiments, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and Southern blot hybridization were performed to determine the transferability of plasmids. Results The antibiotic susceptibility results showed that all the NDM-1-producing C. freundii isolates were resistant to penicillins, cephalosporins and carbapenems. All isolates exhibited different level resistance to other antibiotics. Conjugation experiments revealed that the plasmids harboring blaNDM-1 in 13 strains were transformed into E. coli 600, and exhibited carbapenem resistance. PFGE and Southern blot hybridization found that blaNDM-1 was located on a 33.3 kb plasmid in 16 isolates and on 33.3-54.7 kb plasmid in 2 isolates. Conclusions Our findings suggest that plasmids contribute to the horizontal dissemination of blaNDM-1 gene in carbapenemresistant C. freundii.

Objective To investigate the distribution of integrons and ISCR1 elements in NDM-l-producing Citrobacterfreundii isolates,and analyze the genotypes of these strains to understand their homology.Methods A total of 18 strains of NDM-1-producing Citrobacterfreundii were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University during the period from June 2012 and October 2014.The isolates were identified and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing with VITEK 2 System.Class Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and 1Ⅲ integrons and ISCR1 elements were detected by PCR.Clonal relatedness was assessed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).Results Most (77.8％,14/18) strains were positive for class Ⅰ integron conserved region,27.8％ (5/18) isolates were positive for ISCR1 conserved region.No class Ⅱ or Ⅲ integron was detected.Most (72.2％,13/18) isolates were positive for class Ⅰ integron variable region.None of the strains harbored class Ⅱ integron or ISCR1 variable region.Integron variable regions included gene cassette encoding resistance to aminoglycosides (aadA1,aadA5,aac(6')-Ib-cr) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (dfrA,dfrA15,dfrA17).PFGE revealed 17 clusters among 18 NDM-l-producing Citrobacter freundii isolates.Conclusions The clonal dissemination of NDM-l-producing Citrobacterfreundii isolates is not significant.Class I integron is prevalent in NDM-l-producing Citrobacter freundii.The presence of ISCR1 is relatively rare.The two mobile elements are not related to the spread of NDM-1 gene in this hospital.

Objective To construct a blaNDM-1gene deletion mutant of Enterobacter cloacae and to analyze its biological characteristics. Methods The blaNDM-1gene deletion mutant was constructed by using Red homologous recombination technology and verified by PCR and RT-qPCR. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles,growth curves and in vitro competition abilities of the original strain and the blaNDM-1gene deletion mutant were analyzed. Results PCR,DNA sequencing and RT-qPCR showed that the blaNDM-1gene dele-tion mutant was successfully constructed. Antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that the original strain was resistant to imipenem,meropenem and ertapenem, while the blaNDM-1gene deletion mutant was sensitive to all. The original strain and the blaNDM-1gene deletion mutant had similar growth curves in Luria-Bertani liq-uid medium. In vitro competition experiment revealed that the competitive index of them was 0.69. Conclu-sion Red homologous recombination technology can be used to knockout the blaNDM-1gene of Enterobacter cloacae,which is associated with antimicrobial resistance and competitiveness.